Of Clouds and Kisses
by ladykazekage
Summary: Temari and her siblings are visiting Konoha, and much to Temari's chagrin, their guide is Shikamaru. But maybe things will turn out alright. complete!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing

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**Chapter:One**

Temari stretched out her legs, placed her hands behind her to cradle her head and lay down to bask in the warm glow coming from the noon day sun.

Her inner warrior cautioned her to be careful and watchful, as this would be the best place for an ambush, but her inner lazy teenaged girl took over and told her to just lay down and relax. After all this was a vacation.

Temari's siblings were doing something else where, but as she had closed eyes, she could not really see what exactly they were doing. Kankuro was probably messing around with his puppets, and Gaara was off somewhere brooding, as he had been doing the entire trip.

"_Two whole days of staying in the caravan with those two." _thought Temari, causing her to shudder. Not that she didn't like her siblings, well…Gaara's case was kind of iffy, but still, neither one was really much of a conversationalist. They just kept staring out the window, focused on what they were to do when they reached Konoha.

"_Konoha…" _Temari thought with a happy inner sigh. It had been six months since the infamous Chuunin exams, and she was eager to see it again. Everything there was so new and exciting. Then again, anything that broke the monotonous routine in Suna was new and exciting. Wake up, train, break for lunch, train some more, break for dinner, train a bit more, and then go to bed to get enough sleep for the next day which was the exact same thing. Even this trip was for training.

_"Yeah right." _thought Temari as she rolled over to expose her back to the gentle rays. She knew that their teacher had called this trip a mission, but as soon as she heard the words "journey to Konoha…" the one thing that crossed her mind was "VACATION!!!"

_"And not a minute too soon."_

"Temari, come on, the horses are watered, and we have to get going if we're going to make it to Konoha any time soon." said Kankuro as he called her to get back in the caravan.

Reluctantly, Temari lifted herself up from the ground and walked over to where two horses were hitched up to a veritable house on wheels.

Temari sat down on one of the benches attached to the walls of the carriage, facing her two younger siblings. As soon as the wheels began to turn her two brothers took their positions of staring out the window, exactly as they had done for two days.

Her gaze fell across each of them as she studied them. Kankuro looked so much like their father and now on a closer inspection, she could see that he had changed in the past six months. Where as before he had been as dedicated as any other village genin (which meant not really) after Orochimaru had betrayed Suna, Kankuro had thrown himself in to his training. His face had slimmed and had lost their cherubic-like appearance. His shoulders had broadened slightly, and because she had witnessed him practicing his tai-jutsu shirtless many times, she knew his stomach was flatter and well defined. It was hard to accept that her little butterball of a brother had changed so much, but she had no other choice.

Her staring carried over to her youngest brother, Gaara. He too looked much like their recently deceased father, and although they were subtle, the changes in his appearance were also evident. His face had also grown gaunter, though not quite for the same reason as Kankuro. He did still train with his two-team mates, but he also had extra lessons that the other two did not have. Lessons on official rites and ceremonies that were needed by the Kazekage. Lessons on Kazekage business, from everyday chores to how one behave when you have a visiting feudal lord. And although he did not have the fervor that Kankuro did, he made up for this by using his long sleepless nights studying. Because he was possessed by the demon Shikaku, Gaara could not sleep, lest the demon eat his personality. This resulted in giving him a dark ring around his eyes from his insomnia.

Having lost interest at studying the only other occupants of their carriage, Temari let her mind wander. It wasn't long before thoughts of Konoha popped up. Their teacher had repeatedly warned them that while in Konoha, they were all to be on their best behavior, as they were representing Suna and the Wind Country, particularly Gaara. He was attending a meeting between the Kage's of the Wind, Fire and Water countries, and it was imperative that everybody behaved their selves. Many people still did not trust the Wind Country due to the notorious Wind and Sound country invasion, even after they had signed that treaty. So it was important for Gaara, Kankuro and Temari to show how civil and trustworthy Sunaites were, and above all else to not wreck their already fragile relationship between the other countries.

Soon, her mind took a trip down memory lane and upon the Invasion and the Chuunin Exam. Despite the fact that her nerves had been just about shot from the stress during that time, she still had managed to have fun. She had defeated a lot of opponents, which always served to punch up one's ego.

An image of a tall boy and an obscenely taller ponytail with a fish net shirt flashed across her eyes and she saw red. _"Him."_ He was the only who had ever defeated her. She was one of the best ninjas in her village and had always been able to trounce any enemy in a satisfactory manner till him. The fact that he was some little common boy and he had defeated her just positively irked her. It wasn't that she was a sore loser; it was just she didn't _like_ to lose.

_"Maybe I'll meet him in Konoha and then I can kick his butt."_ she thought as she felt the beginnings of a long lazy nap come on. She let sleep claim her as she laid her head against one of the walls to the carriage, anticipating her revenge.

Else where, a certain common boy with an obscenely tall ponytail was lying down on his favorite cloud-gazing spot. He always lay here after his morning session of training and before lunch and his daily game of Go.

Suddenly, Shikamaru's quiet little world was interrupted with the arrival of his hefty teammate, Chouji, who was munching on the contents of yet another colorfully decorated bag.

_"It's a wonder he doesn't eat the bag as well the way he's inhaling that food." _thought the cynical Shikamaru.

In between bites, Chouji was able to convey his message.

"Asuma-sensei…munch…says he needs…crunch crunch…to see you…mmm…says it's important."

"What a drag." said Shikamaru. He could only imagine what Asuma-sensei wanted. No doubt it'd be something unreasonable like he should devote more of his time to training and less time to gazing at clouds.

After finding out where Asuma-sensei was waiting for him from the eternally munching Chouji, Shikamaru headed off in his nonchalant, somewhat slow, walk.

Walking down the familiar roads and streets as he made his way to the ramen shop, Shikamaru's thoughts wandered off as they were want to do and often did.

"It's about time." muttered Asuma when Shikamaru finally arrived. "Tsunade-sama has an important mission for you."

"Me? Why me?" asked Shikamaru.

"Because Tsunade said so, and she's the Hokage." offered Asuma as an explanation, albeit a very poor one.

Walking in silence, the pair eventually reached the mission room, where ninjas of all ranks receive various-ranked missions.

_"_Aw good, your finally here." said Tsunade when Asuma and Shikamaru entered the room. "Now I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to step into that room over there for awhile." She said as she gestured to some obscure door in the corner.

Once inside, Shikamaru gave the tiny room a one-over and quickly lost interest. It was a small room with one or two chairs, a bench, and a table.

"Why do they even have this room?" Shikamaru asked, turning to see his sensei have an incredibly devious and lecherous smile on his face.

"Uh, sensei?" Shikamaru began cautiously.

"What? Oh, sorry, just remembering something. I've had some good times in this room with Kurenai-sensei…" said Asuma, somewhat shamefacedly as his mind wandered off yet again, leaving a poor Shikamaru some very scarring mental images as to what those _good times _entailed.

"If they come in, stall them Shizune!" yelled Tsunade to the room she was leaving.

She closed the door and then turned her attention to Shikamaru.

"Alright then. Your mission is to show some guests of ours around town, you know, show them attractions, and answer any questions they may ask." she said.

"Okay… and you had to drag me into this poor excuse of a closet to tell me that?"

"You should watch that sharp tongue of yours Nara, it'll get you in trouble one day. But your intuition is correct. Along with guiding our guest around, you'll also be watching them." Tsunade said.

"Wha-"

"Our guest are from the Wind Country, and it's been decided that for now we might want to keep an eye on them while they're here." she explained, interrupting his confused interjection.

"But we're at peace with the Wind Country, we signed that treaty with them, why are we spying on them?" He was confused. This was not how Konoha handled things. They did not go around people's backs while smiling to their face.

"Your smart, I'm sure you can figure it out." Tsunade replied somewhat snappish, then sighed. "It wasn't my idea, spying on guests like this. The feudal lords wanted us to do this. They repeatedly reminded me how we had signed a treaty with the Wind Country before and they had still broken that one. It's all very complicated." she finished, saying it more to herself than Shikamaru.

"In my experience, grown-ups just say that to get out of explaining things to children." responded Shikamaru.

Tsunade smiled at that. "Yeah, they do do that. Listen, as much as we want to welcome our guests in a friendly manner for the sake of international cooperation, we still have to look out for our own."

"Okay then, why me? Wouldn't a jounin be more suited for this sort of thing?"

"Well, that's just it," Tsunade began, "if we had someone like Kakashi or Asuma-sensei show these people around, they might get suspicious. They are ninjas, they're not stupid."

"Wait, I'm spying on ninjas?"

"Yes, and it looks less suspicious if someone like you shows them around. You don't look nearly as imposing as a Jonin." Shikamaru frowned at this statement. "I also chose you because you're the only one available that _can_ handle this." she concluded.

He didn't like this. He didn't like that he was having to spy on guests who Konoha was suppose to be on friendly terms with. He also didn't like that he was going have to spy on ninjas…

"What a drag" he muttered to himself, dragging his hand through his hair while scratching his head.

"Alright then, you just wait here until they arrive and I call for you. Here is the information on where they'll be staying and whatnot." Tsunade said handing him a fairly thick packet, one foot already out the door.

"By the way, I've already taken the liberty to have some things of yours taken over to where they'll be staying, as you'll have to stay there too for the week so you can be more easily accessible to them." she said while popping her head back in, then left.

"Don't worry, Tsunade chose you for a reason, you'll do okay." Asuma-sensei said in what he thought would be a comforting tone, while plucking another cigarette from his pack and lighting it up.

"Finally!" exclaimed Temari as they stepped out of the carriage, just outside a large building where they were suppose to meet the new Hokage. "I thought we'd be stuck in that box forever!"

She wasn't entirely surprised at the lack of response. Gaara and their teacher ever rarely showed that she might have spoken, and ever since Kankuro became dead serious about his training and being a ninja, he had lost his sense of humor.

They all walked in to the building and followed their way down a long, winding, and confusing series of hallways. _"Like a warren of rabbits." _thought Temari.

They finally came across the room where they were obviously suppose to be because Baki, their teacher stopped suddenly.

Turning towards the three siblings, he said in serious tone, "Now, I would hope that my previous talks might have sunk in by now, by one final reminder, behave yourselves."

_"Treats us like kids…"_

They walked in to a fairly large room with many windows. Across the room stood several tables where some people, mainly Chuunin from the vest they were wearing, were seated.

"Welcome to Konoha, I trust your journey was comfortable." said a young looking lady with rather large breasts. Baki shot his students a look that told Temari that _this_ was the new Hokage. _"But wait…I thought she was one of the Sannin, so that would make her like 50..."_

_"_It is a pleasure to have you all here." the lady continued. "I'm afraid I'll have to cut this initial meeting short as I have some rather urgent business elsewhere. However, I have provided you with a guide, in order to make your stay here much easier. Asuma." she called off towards the corner where Temari now noticed a door.

"We don't nee-" started Temari before Baki hissed in her ear, "Do _not _argue with her."

Slowly, the door opened, and out stepped a tall man with a beard and cigarette in his mouth, followed by an all too familiar youth.

"Shit." muttered Temari under her breath

Shikamaru stepped out of the dingy little side room that he was forced to stay in for several hours to notice that the occupants of the room had grown by four since the last time he was in there, and that those four new arrivals were familiar.

They stood in a group, with strange looking man with half of his face covered by a piece of clothe in the back, and a boy of about fifteen or sixteen wearing kabuki paint. He didn't know the name of the man, but vaguely remembered the boy being called Kankuro. There also stood the notorious Gaara, all dark and brooding. Shikamaru still remembered his past encounters with this demon vessel quite well. And next to him stood a girl with blonde hair and a large fan. _"Temari." _he reminded himself. He had fought her, and had won, he wasn't soon to forget that fight, and neither was she from the look of unhidden anger on her face. Shikamaru could just about feel the vengeful vibes coming off of her.

He turned to see Tsunade give him an I-don't-care-if-you-want-this-mission-or-not-your-doing-it look that stifled any complaints he was about to voice. But come on, could she really expect him to guide the bloodthirsty Gaara or that ticking time bomb over there that was trying to kill him with many deathly glares?

"Well, I hope you find your stay here comfortable and relaxing, any questions you may have you can ask Shikamaru here, I'm sure he'll be more than competent."

_"Stupid crazy old lady, Man what a drag…"_

With a final wave from Tsunade, Shikamaru stepped forward. "Well, um I guess you'll want to go to where you'll be staying, Uh… follow me I guess." he said, leading the visitors out of the room and out into mid-afternoon Konoha.

_"I can _not_ believe this! That stupid smug snot-nose little punk is our guide! That means he's going to be with us all week! There goes my wonderfully-planned vacation!" _Temari sighed pathetically at her predicament, shooting some more death glares at the back of the stupid smug snot-nose little punk in question, though to her disappointment, they seemed to have no effect.

_"Then again, this could be to my advantage. After all, I was kind of hoping for a chance to get back at him, and here he is! I don't even have to stalk after him or anything. Yes this could definitely work out well for me."_ Temari smugly crossed her arms as she followed behind her teammates and their guide through almost empty streets of Konoha on their way to the inn they were to stay at.

_"I can not believe Tsunade! She must be crazy!" _thought Shikamaru. _"First I have to deal with Gaara who has already promised to kill me before, but I also have to deal with his older sister who obviously has revenge on the mind." _Shikamaru could feel the blond dessert-dweller's death glares targeted at the back of his head and gulped, though not loud enough for anyone to hear fortunately. _"I honestly don't know who's worse, or who's scarier!"_

They soon reached the hotel/onsen that the five would be staying for the week. He walked in, followed the four visitors, and two grumbling Chuunin that had been involuntarily volunteered to be luggage carriers.

"Oh hello! Welcome to the Sparkling Springs© Onsen!" said the cheery little brunette receptionist from behind the desk at the opposite wall. "And how may I be of assistance!"

Walking up to the desk, Shikamaru said, "Uh, I think Tsunade-sama has some rooms reserved-"

"Oh yes," the receptionist continued in her unnatural cheeriness, "The four rooms on the top level?" Shikamaru nodded, although he had no idea. "Yes, alright then if you'll just sign here," she handed Shikamaru a log book, which he quickly scribbled his name down on, "and here are your keys. All guests have full access to our onsens, both the private ones and the co-ed ones, and have a wonderful time!" she finished with a brilliant if not all to convincing smiling.

Turning back to the foreigners, he handed out the keys and said, "Okay, it looks like we're on the twelfth floor." The two chuunins who were hauling the luggage groaned audibly, but followed the rest up the stairs, dragging the heavy bags with them, and trying to not let the bags drag them down.

Temari looked out of the window her personal room. The sun had already set and Konoha's nightlife was awakening. Lights glowed softly from various restaurants and bars along Main Street. Off in the distance, Temari could hear the loud pulse of music emanating from one of the few nightclubs Konoha possessed. _"Interesting, I might have to check it out, might be some cute local boys there."_

Temari was so wrapped up in her own thoughts; she didn't even hear her oldest brother come in.

"How come you get your own room?" he complained, briefly showing the little bit of immaturity he still possessed.

Temari smiled and turned to her brother who was flopped over her bed. He had wiped off his ridiculous make-up after dinner, and while he stared up at the ceiling in self-pity Temari couldn't help think of how her brother would some day make some girl very lucky.

"Because it's indecent for a young lady to share a room with any males, even one's she related to."

"I don't see any young ladies." Kankuro replied, and was rewarded for his efforts a big smack from one of Temari's pillows.

"Okay okay, but how Gaara gets his own room?"

"Kazekage." and that was the only answer needed.

"Aw well, I guess it could be worse, I could be sharing a room with Baki. Maybe that Shikamaru fellow won't be so bad."

"I think I'd rather be with Baki than that punk." replied Temari tartly.

"What do you got against him? Oh right…" said Kankuro, and huge grin spreading across his face, "He's the guy who beat you, isn't he. Wonder why I didn't recognize him from before. Don't tell me your being a sore loser about it _still_?"

"And so what if I am?" huffed Temari

"Then this week will be interesting." Kankuro replied with an extremely evil-looking smile, even chuckling slightly.

"What happened to Mr. Responsible Mature Ninja?" asked Temari.

"That's just for the benefit of the adults, deep-down I'm still my good old self."

_"Which can't be good at all."_

"Hey, come on, lets go check out that onsen." encouraged Kankuro.

Temari contemplated it and figure, might as well. _"After all, we only have five days here, four after today."_

And so Kankuro left Temari so that she could change, and began to formulate his plan.

Shikamaru was reading his list of instructions that was included in the packet that Tsunade had handed to him.

_"Every night you are to report in to Me." _it said.

He groaned, like this mission wasn't hard enough, now he had to sneak around…

Two brisk knocks interrupted his thoughts and he hurriedly stuffed his papers into the provided folder while saying, "It's unlocked."

Kankuro walked in then.

"You know you don't have to knock, this is your room too." Shikamaru explained.

"Wouldn't want to walk in on you doing something embarrassing." Kankuro replied.

"Like what?" Shikamaru asked.

"Oh you know, this and that." not clarifying anything at all for Shikamaru. "Hey you want to come down to the onsen with Temari, Gaara, and I?" he said quickly throwing Shikamaru completely off guard.

"Uh sure…" he stammered out.

"Alright then, we just gotta get dressed and meet them down there." Kankuro said, while rifling through his suitcase and pulling out some swim trunks before heading off to the bathroom.

Shikamaru groaned, _"Great, another chance to be around Temari…" _He recalled all of the glares and short snippy replies to any question he might ask at loud at dinner. _"This will be fun."_ he thought sarcastically. By then Kankuro had stepped out of the bathroom in baggy swim shorts and looked down at Shikamaru.

"Well, are you going to get dressed?"

Kankuro opened the sliding door to the nearly empty co-ed onsen. Temari was already there, swimming around lazily and Gaara was sitting by a small waterfall, with crossed arms and a brooding expression. It was late enough that none of the other patrons were there so hot steaming pool was all for them.

Temari looked up at the new arrivals, and began to climb out of the pool, grabbing a towel to dry off and walked over to where the two adolescent boys stood.

"'Bout time Kankuro." she said, heading off to a small table that held some drink with a fruit slice and bright neon little paper umbrella with a matching straw, which she began to drink from.

Shikamaru's face began to get very hot as he noticed Temari in her bikini. He couldn't help but appreciate how _good _she looked in it. She also had let her hair down, and it fell just between her shoulder blades, sticking to her back from the moisture. When she turned to face them, glass in hand, the effect of her slicked wet hair made her eyes appear larger, the blue standing out, which only complimented her rosy red lips.

_"No, no, I will not stray down that path. I'm not some hopeless pervert like Naruto or Jiraiya."_ thought Shikamaru, referring to the perverted Sannin who wrote the dirty Icha Icha Paradise book series.

"What are you looking at?" asked Temari in a snippy tone, interrupting Shikamaru's thoughts.

"Er, nothing…" he said, turning his head away.

Temari gave a short derisive snort, "Better be nothing," she muttered, mostly to herself.

"_This so is not fair!" _thought Temari. She, her brothers and that _punk_ were all sitting around, letting the hot water wash over them to supposedly calm their nerves, but Temari's nerves were anywhere from calm. _"This just is not fair!"_

She thought back to when Kankuro and Shikamaru had first entered. Soon as her eyes fell on Shikamaru her jaw almost dropped. If it weren't for her supreme ninja skills, it probably would have.

All this time she figured the little brat would be pale, sickly, and not at all appealing. But darn it all if that stupid Shikamaru didn't toally wipe away these pre-formed notions while showing off his stupidly flat stomach complete with stupid muscles and his stupid…stupidity! Temari couldn't even think straight. He was even taller than she remembered, taller than her, even without that stupid ponytail. She had then caught him staring at something and let her emotions take over.

"What are you looking at?" she had snapped.

"Er, nothing…" was the reply.

"Better be nothing." she said, more as an afterthought.

She sighed and brought her mind back to the present. _"Damn it…not fair." _She though yet again, sinking down into the water until only the top of her head down to her nose was above the water. She once again settled down into the activity she had found herself performing quite frequently lately, which was shooting daggers at Shikamaru with her eyes.

But this soon was interrupted when Shikamaru, who had been discussing something with Kankuro, turned towards her, and having noticed her staring at him, he asked in a forced polite tone, "Is something the matter?"

Temari sat up properly as to answer him. "No nothing is the matter." She said, crossing her arms.

"Then why is it you keep glaring at me? You've been doing it all day now." he said, finally confronting her about it.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes you do! You were doing it just now!"

"I was not."

"Were too."

"Was not!"

"Were too!"

Suddenly Temari got up, and headed over to where she had last left her towel, and while wrapping it around her, she opened the sliding door and left.

Shikamaru lowered his head. "I'm sorry," he began, apologizing to the room at large, "I shouldn't have yelled like that."

"No biggie," Kankuro assured him. "Don't let Temari catch me saying this, but you were in the right there. She has been glaring at you all day. Of course, it's no surprise really…"

"It doesn't have anything to do with the Chuunin exam does it?" Shikamaru asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"Actually…yes. Temari can be a bit of a sore loser sometimes…"

"It's been six months though! Surely she would have gotten over it by now."

"That's the thing about Temari, she can hold a grudge for a pretty long time. But actually, I don't think she would have remembered it if it wasn't for the fact that you were assigned as our guide. The again, knowing Temari, one can never be to sure."

_"Great, one of them is already mad at me and they don't even know about the spying thing. This going to be a fun four days."_

Later that night, after making sure Kankuro was asleep, Shikamaru slipped out of their shared room and made his way out of the inn. Outside he breathed a small sigh of relief, and then began to make his way the Hokage's office, which still had a light on in the window, though it looked as small as a candle's flame.

Though there were no clouds out to admire, the moon was full, and it looked beautiful in the sky. It shed an eerie light upon his surroundings, making familiar places look otherworldly.

After a while, Shikamaru arrived at the building where the Hokage's office was housed, and he made his way up the many staircases.

Finally he was just outside of Tsunade's office door, which he knocked on.

"Enter." said a muffled voice from behind the heavy wooden door.

Shikamaru turned the doorknob and walked in to see Tsunade studying some medical book.

She looked up. "Ah, there you are, come on, come on, have a seat." she said pointing at a chair.

Shikamaru settled down and looked at Tsunade who studying him with much intensity.

"So…" The older lady prompted him.

"Well, actually, there's not really that much to report. We arrived at the hotel, we ate dinner, and we swam in the onsen, that's about it."

"Well, it is only the first night, I really didn't expect them to slip up and reveal anything."

"With all due respect Lady Hokage, I don't think they have anything to reveal." said Shikamaru.

"Most likely your right, but the feudal lords want to be absolutely sure. So just continue on your mission. Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

Shikamaru almost told Tsunade about Temari's attitude towards him, but he decided it wasn't worth it.

"Nope." he said while getting up and leaving the room."

"Well, good luck Shikamaru!" she called after him.

_"Because I'll need it."_

Shikamaru made his way back through the dimly lit streets towards the inn. His mind began to wander as his concentration and focus slipped due to fatigue. _"Man, this spying stuff is such a drag…We're suppose to be on friendly terms with Suna, why do we need to spy on them?" _Of course, he did see the logic in the feudal lords and Tsunade's thinking, but still…_"And if they ever find out, I'm dead…Temari would kill me personally. Speaking of Temari…what was that earlier? In the onsen?"_ Shikamaru spent a few silent moments in contemplation. _"It was probably the fumes coming off the water…yeah, all the steam and the perfume that they mix into the water must have gone straight to my head and had not let me think straight…although I never had that problem before…"_

Shikamaru continued to mull over this until he came upon the inn, then he slipped in, thinking himself undetected, but actually he had been. One lone figure that had stayed up due to his inability to sleep. One lone figure watched as Shikamaru entered the building, just as he had watched him exit it before, and he made note of it.

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Please review!

Heyas! Okay, it's another written-thingie from yours truly.

Anywhos.. Say Hola to Chappie 1 of my ShikaTema FanFic, because I absolutely love that couple…jes, jes I do.

By the way…a thousand pardons for the cussing…if you have a problem with it…I swear it doesn't get any worse…just the S-, D-, and H-word…which is like, Class Three cuss words (Class One being like the F-word)

And yes I know this one chapter is like humongous. This whole FanFic is kinda big. The whole thing is roughly 33 pages, in the first chapters cover approximately 11 pages. What should be one fifth of the story actually takes up about one third.

But stay with me! I swear it gets better, and the next chapters are much shorter. Come on, you know you want to find out what happens next, your curious…I know you are…You can just feel the sexual tension growing.

Okay, now I'm just being stupid.

Anywhos, I would totally appreciate constructive critique-age. I want to make my works better. So if certain things jump out at you as "WRONG!!!" tell me…just gently…

Also, I'm sure you die-hard narutards will find something to complain about, about how so-and-so doesn't quite fit into the storyline but I say phewie! I don't care…

Is it just me, or did those last two lines contradict each other? Let me clarify. I totally would love constructive critique on my writing style, but I don't want to hear how I messed up on how this fits the Naruverse.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing

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**Chapter Two**

Temari woke up for the first time to the whims of her internal clock, not having to wake up super early to start training for four whole days…paradise.

But wouldn't you know it, her stupid internal clock still got her up pretty early, like 7:00 in the morning early, a most ungodly hour.

_"Figures…" _Temari grumbled to herself, _"The one day I actually get to sleep in, I wake up early." _Though Temari wasn't going to give in so easily. She tossed and turned for about another ten minutes, giving it a valiant effort, but eventually she had to admit defeat.

She rose from her bed and headed to her private bathroom where she made herself ready for the day.

After thirty minutes of showering, plucking, tweezing, crimping and thousands of other morning rituals that every female partakes in everyday, Temari deemed herself ready.

She made her way down the staircase down the room that was serving as the traveler's dining room. It was where they had had dinner the night before.

She opened the door to find that the room was already occupied to her disappointment. There sat Shikamaru, back to the door, eating something out of a bowl, and reading a book. He didn't notice her until she sat down at the table, right across from him, the farthest away she could be from him with out seeming rude.

"Oh, your up early." he said when he looked up from his book.

"Couldn't sleep, where'd you get the food?" she asked.

Shikamaru pointed over to the table in the far corner that was laden with a spread of pastries and other sundry items often found in a continental breakfast. As she made her way over there, Shikamaru studied her back. _"She's even prettier then last night in the onsen…wait I didn't just think that!" _He focused all of his attention towards the book in front of him, though he failed to get any further then a few sentences, being completely distracted by something else.

That something else made her way back to the table, carrying a plate with a bagel, an apple, a few slices of toast and a nice tall glass of milk. _"A nice-sized breakfast," _noted Shikamaru, _"Not too tiny like Ino would eat, what with her constant diets, and not too big like Chouji would eat with his constant anti-diets."_

Temari figured she should try to make herself act civil if not for politeness' sake.

"So, what book are you reading?" she asked while spreading some cream cheese on her bagel and taking a big bite out of it.

"Uh, it's this science-fiction book about what would happen if technology surpassed humankind's intelligence." he replied, kind of embarrassed. When he said it like that it sounded sort of dorky.

"Hmm…" Temari said, looking at the cover, "Shoyo Imamura" she said refering to the author. "I've heard about him, never really read his stuff, but I hear he's a pretty decent author. I'm more of a Saori Konoe fan myself."

"That author who does all those mystery thrillers?" asked Shikamaru.

Temari confirmed this with a nod.

"Funny, I figured you'd read more of the romantic ooey-gooey kind of stories." he said.

"Why, because I'm a girl?" she asked giving him an icy stare, but Shikamaru didn't answer. That's exactly what he thought, but he knew that that would be the wrong answer. Instead he tried to change the subject.

"So have you thought about your going to do on your four day's vacation?" he asked. But before Temari could answer, Kankuro slammed open the door and proclaimed, "I'm hungry, where's the grub?"

Midday and Temari, Kankuro, and Shikamaru were making their way down Main Street, looking for something to do. Unfortunately, Konoha wasn't really a tourist attraction, and didn't offer much for day visitors, and most of the citizens were training anyway. Temari had wanted to go shopping, but Kankuro absolutely did not, so they had to settle for walking down Main Street, which wasn't nearly as much fun as it sounds. Gaara was off somewhere else, doing official Kazekage type things and meeting with Tsunade and the Kage of the Water Country for their first of many meetings.

"Hey, I got an idea." said Kankuro suddenly, breaking the silence, "and it'll keep Baki happy too."

"What?" asked Temari with little excitement, something that kept Baki happy was most likely the farthest thing from being fun.

"We could spar-" began Kankuro only to be interrupted with Temari's groaning.

"Come on Kankuro, we're on vacation, why should we train?" she asked.

Kankuro stepped over to his older sister and leaned over to whisper in her ear, "Come on, this is the chance you've been waiting for… the chance to get back at Shikamaru for the Chuunin exam…"

Kankuro did have a point there.

"Alright, I guess I'm in. What about you?" she asked directing this Shikamaru while still maintaining to not call him by his name.

"It doesn't make a difference either way, my orders are to do whatever you tell me to do." replied Shikamaru in his perpetually bored voice.

"Then sparring it is." said Kankuro.

It took them awhile, but the three eventually made their way to an abandoned training field. Kankuro surveyed the land, looking around before declaring the spot good enough.

They drew straws and Shikamaru lucked out and sat the first round, preparing to spar against the winner.

Kankuro and Temari faced each other, as they had done a hundred times before. Temari saw as Kankuro gave her a small discreet wink, and then they began.

Soon they were nothing more than a blur of arms and legs. It was difficult for Shikamaru to keep up, but after about five minutes, Temari had Kankuro pinned, she being victorious.

"All right, all right, get your fat butt off me!" shouted Kankuro.

"Tsk tsk Kankuro, you know better than that, maybe I should teach you a lesson."

"Come on Temari! You won, now let me go!" begged Kankuro, ever the brilliant actor.

"Alright, I'm feeling merciful today, but you need to be better behaved in the future, and no more cheeky comments." Temari said, playing along as she picked herself off of Kankuro. "You ready?" she asked Shikamaru.

"As ready as I'll ever be." he said, he too getting up.

He walked over to where Kankuro had been standing only a few minutes before, and faced Temari. She had an evil glint in her eyes that only her look even more pretty, albeit a scary pretty.

_"Focus Shikamaru."_ he told himself. He knew exactly what this was. This was revenge for sixth months ago, and unless he watched out, a girl'd defeat him. _"Man, what a drag."_

Kankuro declared the start of the sparring match, but neither Temari nor Shikamaru moved for a few moments. Studying each other's movements, seeing who would be foolish and rush into an attack.

Suddenly, with a mighty cry Temari whipped out her giant fan that she carried everywhere and sent a strong air current towards Shikamaru, which would have knocked him over and blown him away if he hadn't dug his heels into the ground. He covered his face to minimize any damage, and when he looked up Temari had abandoned her fan and was coming towards Shikamaru, kunai in one hand, taking this sparring match from long range to close quarters.

Shikamaru responded by reaching for a kunai himself just in time to block a downward swipe from Temari's hand that contained her kunai. _"She's learned from the last time." _he thought, _"I can't run away somewhere to come up with a strategy if I have to fight hand-to-hand." _While blocking and deflecting Temari's strikes, Shikamaru looked around, trying to come up with something. _"Damn it, we're out in the open here, very few shadows for me to manipulate, I'd have to some how get into the trees over there." _he thought, referring to the small grove of trees about 30 yards away.

But before Shikamaru could even begin to try and make a break for the trees, Temari had sneaked up behind Shikamaru and he hadn't even noticed.

Instead of sticking him in between the shoulder blades with the kunai, as he would have expected, Temari dropped quickly on to her hands and did a sweeping kick with her legs, almost successfully knocking Shikamaru off his feet. But as his feet were being knocked out from under him, he bent his back over and planted his hands on the ground. He then proceeded to flip his body over, much like a gymnast performing a back handspring.

Shikamaru recovered just in time to block another swipe from Temari's kunai-laden hand to his face. They continued this martial ballet for some time, while Shikamaru searched for opening, either for an attack or for a chance to duck into the trees. Unfortunately, Temari seemed wise to his game and whenever they got to close to the trees, she would attack him from the other direction and push him away.

Suddenly Temari appeared to trip, and just as she stood up, Shikamaru stuck his kunai to her neck. _"Damn it, I hate being this rough with a girl."_

"All right, I win." he said, breath only slightly labored.

"Are you so sure?" asked Temari, and that's when Shikamaru felt the sharp poke of a kunai at his stomach. It was a tie.

Shikamaru stared down at Temari, into her eyes most of all. At this moment they were coal black with a touch of smugness. Fog seemed to shroud Shikamaru's mind, making his thoughts become sluggish, time seemed to slow, as he stared down at those beautiful, dangerous eyes.

Temari returned the stare as she felt her brain turn to mush. Had he always had such intense eyes?

"Wow, that was really entertaining!" said Kankuro, interrupting Shikamaru and Temari's thoughts. He came over and patted Shikamaru on the back. "I thought you almost had her then, but good old Temari, knew just what to do."

"Not exactly Kankuro, it still ended in a tie." she said, voice hardly even trying to hide her anger. She went off to get her fan. "Still, it did go a lot better than last time. At least this time around I got some moves out of you, instead of having to wait around for you while you hide in the trees. Typical male, never wanting to make the first move."

Shikamaru was thinking about making _several _first moves right now, but figured right here and now wasn't really smart.

_"Kami, what's happening to me. This is like the third time I've had these feelings. It's probably just some heat of the moment thing. I had all that blood pumping in my head from the spar, and I just wasn't thinking straight. Or it might be one of those hormonal things which I have no control over, in which case it'll probably go away soon."_

These were the kind of thoughts Shikamaru was thinking as the three made their way back to the inn, repeatedly trying to reassure himself that what he was feeling was simply weird teenager stuff that his dad was always trying to explain to him.

They reached the hotel and it was decided that showers were needed all around in preparation for tonight. Tonight was a big welcoming party for all of Konoha's visitors at one of Konoha's nicest restaurants. It was 4:00 by the time they had gotten back from the training area, and dinner started at 6:00. The two boys were both done and ready with in 20 minutes, but Temari took an entire hour and half, and the boys couldn't do anything but wait. They were suppose to meet Gaara and Baki over at the restaurant, the two of them having spent the entire day at the Hokage's office, and had simply left from there.

"So, is there really not that much to do in Konoha?" asked Kankuro, striking up a conversation as the two teenaged boys lounged about on their respective beds while waiting for Temari.

"Not much for kids anyway." came the reply. "Although there is an under 21 club set up, but that's really it, you know how ninja villages are."

Kankuro did know. Suna was exactly the same way. Very little entertainment establishments were set up in Suna beyond the few restaurants it contained.

"We might have to check out that under 21 club." Kankuro said, "What's it like?"

"Can't tell you, never been."

"Really? Never wanted to check it out?" asked Kankuro, curious.

"Well, usually most of my friends are out of town on missions, and I didn't see the appeal of going alone. That's just pathetic." concluded Shikamaru.

"What about your girlfriend? Surely you got one of those, and I would think she'd be successful a few times enough to drag you there."

Till that point, Shikamaru had not delegated to look up from his position, which included laying his hands under his head and facing the wall that parallel to the length of his bed. But at that question, he tilted his head back till he saw an upside-down Kankuro and gave a short snort.

"Yeah right, I'm not really popular with the ladies."

"Why not? I figured a good-looking guy like you would have lots of girls."

_"Good-looking?" _he lowered his head.Shikamaru had never really considered himself good-looking, nor had he ever really cared whether he was or not, as for why he didn't have thousands of girls hanging off of him, well, Ino offered thousands of explanations to that. "You're too lazy Shikamaru." or "You're too negative."

He rested his head back to its original position. "You know how it is, girls, or at least the girls around here, expect perfection…" he faltered off, not really wishing to expound his apparently numerous flaws to the almost stranger.

_"Perfection…well that shouldn't to hard for Me." _thought Kankuro. "So, who exactly is single around this town?"

"Truthfully? Just about every girl in this town is single. They're all wrapped up in trying to become Sasuke Uchiha's girlfriend to notice any other male in their vicinity." answered Shikamaru.

_"All of them? This is getting easier and easier."_

At that point Temari entered their room dressed to kill in a simple black dress that clung just right to all of her body's natural curves. Shikamaru had to quickly turn his head, lest he be caught staring at her with his mouth open. With his luck, he'd probably be caught with a string of drool coming out of his mouth as well.

"Well fellows? Are we going, or do I have to wait around for you forever?" Temari asked.

"What are you talking about? We're the ones who have been waiting around for _you._ You and your stupid girly habits." exclaimed Kankuro angrily, following his sister. Shikamaru got up and followed the two squabbling siblings. _"This is going to be a long evening. What a drag."_

Soon enough, everyone was together, settled around a large table made up of a lot of little tables put together, although _together_ was a rather loose term.

"I feel like I've been made to sit at the kid's table." whispered Kankuro in a hushed tone, from the far end of the table, which was where Kankuro, Temari and Shikamaru had ended up. Seeing as none were Kage's themselves, they had been deemed not important enough to join in with the conversation of the three Kage's and Baki, who all sat at the head of the table, on either side of Tsunade who was, after all, the Master of Ceremonies.

"I know what you mean." said Temari in the same hushed tone, hiding a yawn behind her hand.

"I hear the food's pretty good here, so maybe it'll be worth it." offered Shikamaru, trying to bring some encouragement to their drab situation.

"It'd have to be pretty good to make this worth it. We might as well have stayed back at the hotel; at least we would have been able to go to the onsen. The way this "party" is going we will not get back until late, with all these slow people. That's what you can expect from old people." concluded Kankuro.

"Hush, they might hear you." warned Temari, but it was in vain.

"They can't hear us, they're practically deaf. Hearing's one of the first things to go when you get old." replied Kankuro, nonplussed.

As much as Shikamaru agreed with Temari about not wanting to be overheard saying such treacherous things, he also agreed with Kankuro. The Kage's were old, with Gaara as the exception, and they seemed completely wrapped up in their own little world, and completely deaf to anything else.

"We've been here about two hours," began Shikamaru, "and if the food arrives with in the next thirty minutes, we could expect to get out in another two, that is, unless Tsunade gets a hold of some alcohol, in which case we could be stuck here awhile."

Kankuro groaned.

"Although, that could work to our advantage." continued Shikamaru.

"How?" Temari asked, somewhat intrigued, anything to get out of this boring nightmare faster.

"Well, if Tsunade gets drunk, as she is want to do whenever alcohol is in her vicinity, she might be able to convince the other adults to get drunk, in which case we might be able to sneak away." finished Shikamaru.

"You're a genius!" Temari exclaimed brightly, though still in a hushed tone.

This statement made Shikamaru blush. He had heard it many times before now, from various people, but this was the first time that he blushed as a reply. He quickly got his face under control before anyone noticed.

Just as Shikamaru predicted, within thirty minutes, the food was delivered, and within another thirty minutes, Tsunade, Baki, and the Mizukage were successfully drunk.

"Now?" asked Kankuro to Shikamaru, asking if it was time to make their move.

Shikamaru studied the three inebriated adults for a while before saying, "Yes."

Slowly and quietly, ducking their heads down, the three made their way towards the only exit.

"Shikamaru!" called Tsunade, sending a chill down his spine. He turned to face here, noticing her finger, which she was crooking, beckoning him over to her.

Shikamaru straightened up and walked over towards the old lady with grace and stoic dignity one would see in a martyr as he made his way to the guillotine or the stake.

"Yes?" he asked bending over, smelling the alcohol.

"Don't let my appearance confuse you," she whispered into his ear, "I am not drunk, and you will still report to me later."

Shikamaru inwardly groaned, he knew it was going to be a long night.

"What did she want?" asked Temari when Shikamaru joined the other two.

"Just wanted to make sure we weren't going off to cause trouble, that we were going straight back to the inn." Shikamaru said, quickly making up a lie.

As they made their way back to the inn, Kankuro mused aloud saying, "You know, Gaara's going to kill us for abandoning him back there."

Shikamaru found himself back in the Hokage's office after hours, _way_ after hours. Tsunade didn't get done with her drunken fest until midnight, so Shikamaru had been waiting there for about two hours.

_"Please don't let Kankuro wake up and notice I'm not there."_ he prayed.

"Alright then Nara, report?" asked Tsunade, completely sober. Apparently being drunk was an act.

"Uh…well, Yet again, there is nothing to report. I honestly think the Sunaites are here just for business, not to invade or whatever." explained Shikamaru.

Tsunade heaved a sigh. "Most likely your correct Nara, I too don't really expect them to be on some covert operation, but the feudal lords-"

"What do they know? They're here for about a week each year and then they go off far away and leave us alone. Then they order us about like they know what's best for us, but how could they? They know nothing!" Shikamaru stopped suddenly. That was most uncharacteristic of him, he never exploded like that. Shikamaru was an expert at keeping his emotions to himself.

Tsunade studied him warily for a moment before starting again. "I couldn't agree with you more Shikamaru." she said, shocking Shikamaru and causing him to raise his head which he had lowered when he had finished his outburst. "The feudal lords are fools, who think they know how to best govern us even though they hardly know us." she paused to catch her breath, which was shaking from poorly suppressed anger. "But we still have to follow their orders, no matter how foolish it might be."

They sat in silence a few moments before Tsunade stood up. "alright Shikamaru, your dismissed, but you still have to report tomorrow and until our visitors have left, no matter how idiotic it is." At this Shikamaru picked himself up and made his way towards the exit.

* * *

Please review!

Bon Jour!

That was chapter two of my ShikaTema fanfic. What will happen next? Will Shikamaru and Temari get together? Did Gaara ever escape from the boring drunken adults? Why am I asking you all of these questions? Tune in next week for the next thrilling installment of _All My Children_

Okay, stupidity over…So what did you think? I want your honest opinion.

This is the chapter of the poorly written action scene. Normally when I read books I sorta…_skip_…over the action scenes and get straight to the dialogue. That's one of the reasons I love Harry Potter so much. The big climatic scene always has some long conversation that I read…and then the rest I skipped.

Therefore, I don't have a lot of examples of action scenes that I've memorized (unlike dialogue) and I don't have much practice writing action…tell me if you were able to follow along with the action, and if it needs tweaking (I'm sure it does)


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing

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**Chapter Three**

Temari slowly made her way through the various racks of the clothing store she had decided to look at. Kankuro was at the "Gym" which probably meant he was cruising for girls, and Shikamaru was who knew where, nor did she particularly care.

A few racks over, Temari heard a conversation going on between to girls, probably just a few years younger then herself. She didn't pay it any mind until she heard a name mentioned that she recognized.

"I'm telling you Ino, I think you and Shikamaru you should hook up!" Temari glanced over to see the speaker, a brunette with all of her hair pulled back in a sloppy ponytail. _"Then the other one must be Ino."_ she turned her gaze to the other girl, who also had her hair in a ponytail, although this one was much neater than her companion's, and blonde instead of brunette.

Temari picked up a shirt from a pile marked 20 off and pretended to analyze it while inconspicuously scooting closer to the two conversing teenagers.

"I don't know Yamazaruko, I mean, he's a bit of a know-it all." said the blonde.

_"No he's not, he's just really smart, smarter than you obviously." _thought Temari, defending Shikamaru's honor without thinking.

"And he's really lazy." Ino drawled on.

_"He's just slow, and deliberate, which means he'd be less likely to mess up."_

"And of course, he's got nothing on Sasuke-kun."

"_Humph, more like Sasuke's got nothing on Shikamaru. Poor pathetic little Ino, it's obvious you just can't handle someone like Shika-." _Temari stopped herself.

_"Oh My God. Have I been doing that the whole time? I don't know what's come over me. Why the heck would I be defending that, that-" _but Temari couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. With a small cry of frustration, she threw down the shirt she had picked up and exited the store as fast as she could.

Ino and Yamazaruko lifted their heads.

"What do you suppose that was about?" asked the brunette.

"Who knows. Maybe they didn't have her size." replied the blonde, and they both went about, continuing their shopping expedition.

Temari stomped down one of the many side streets of Konoha, mind oblivious to anything around her. Her mind was still in turmoil from what had happened in the clothing store, when she ran into a brick wall.

"Ow"

A talking brick wall.

"Sorry." she mumbled out quickly, looking up to see who she had run into, only to find out that it was the subject of her meanderings only moments before.

"It's okay I guess." said Shikamaru in his usual slow, deliberate way. "You should probably just watch where your heading."

"Wha- I was!"

"Hey, don't worry about it." Shikamaru said, heading off what was most likely the beginning of another quarrel. He didn't think he could handle that right now, he had a lot on his mind.

They stood there awhile, in awkward silence, before Temari made an attempt to start up a conversation.

"So, what are you doing?"

"Hmm, oh, I was just taking a walk." explained Shikamaru.

Another pause.

"Mind if I joined you Shikamaru?" asked Temari, somewhat hesitantly.

Shikamaru raised his eyebrow in surprise, but replied, "Sure." That was the first time Temari had used his name…

She stood next to him as they started walking. Soon enough they passed the ninja academy schoolyard, where a group of about twenty young kids were running around jumping on things and acting exactly like the little demons they were.

"Aww, they're kinda cute, you know, when there's a protective fence separating you from them." said Temari as the pair paused, watching the little whirlwinds, and the tired teacher chuunins who racing around after them making sure the kids didn't hurt themselves, or worse, break the school.

"Hey Shikamaru!" called one such teacher, a tall tanned man with a loose ponytail and a scar across the bridge of his nose.

Shikamaru raised his hand and gave a small smile as a reply.

"Who's that?" asked Temari as the two started their walk again.

"That was my old sensei, Iruka-sensei." he responded, with a small chuckle to himself.

"He seemed kind of frazzled." Temari said.

"Yeah well, if you think he looks frazzled now, you should have seen him when I had him. None of those kids can compare to Naruto. He was always disrupting class and making a fool of himself."

"I find it hard to believe he was the only class clown. Those types usually have a few friends backing them up, like an entourage."

"Yeah well, I guess you could call it that." Shikamaru said in an embarrassed tone, the slightest hint of a blush coloring his face.

Temari laughed. It sounded like a chorus of bells. "Don't tell me _you _were a part of his entourage. I have a hard time picturing you interrupting class, the teacher's pet that you are."

"I'm not a teacher's pet! That's Sasuke's role."

_"Sasuke, wasn't that the guy that Ino-chick mentioned?"_

"And I didn't actually disturb the class, but I did cause Iruka-senei a lot of trouble."

"How?"

"Well, More than once Iruka-sensei would find me asleep in class."

"What, were you narcoleptic or an insomniac or something?" Temari asked.

"Nah, I just thought the classes were boring. Sides, I was still able to get an A, whether or not I slept through the class or not."

"Oh, so besides the sleeping thing, you were a good student?"

"Yeah, pretty much, all though, I'm sure Iruka-sensei breathed a sigh of relief the day my class graduated."

They'd been walking for some time now when they passed a round boy with a brightly colored bag that he was eating from.

"Shikamaru!" he called when he had spotted the pony tailed youth. "How ya doing, haven't seen you for a few days now, and I've looked everywhere." he then noticed Temari. "Ohhhhh…I see, so _that's _where you've been" he said, while giving Shikamaru "The Look."

Shikamaru groaned and slapped his hand to his face.

"Chouji, this is Temari, I'm escorting her and her teammates around Konoha while they are visiting, I'm on a _mission_." he tried to put the emphasis on mission so that maybe Chouji would get the hint.

He didn't. "Sure sure , a mission." Then covering his mouth so that Temari couldn't read it, he said, "I'd sure like to have that kind of mission."

Shikamaru gave Chouji a glare to beat all glares, and in a voice hindered by clenched teeth Shikamaru said, "Good bye, Chouji."

Chouji just gave him a smile and continued on his path, calling out. "Goodbye Shikamaru, Goodbye _Temari!" _he practically sang.

After an awkward silence, Shikamaru made an effort to try to apologize for his teammate. "I'm sorry about that, I don't know what Chouji was thinking, he normally isn't like that."

"Oh, it's alright. So I guess he's a friend of yours?" responded Temari, trying to start up the earlier conversation.

"Yeah, one of my teammates actually, He, Ino and I, and Asuma-sensei of course."

_"Wait a second, that Ino-chick is his teammate!"_

"It's kind of a tradition actually," continued Shikamaru, oblivious to Temari's Inner Monologue, "All our dads were on a team, and so I guess they figured might as well put all of us on a team as well."

"Oh, so what are your teammates like?" asked Temari _"Time for some clever investigating."_

"Uh, well you already met Chouji, and Ino is…well…I guess the best way to describe is dumb."

"Wow, you would actually say that about your own teammate." said Temari, somewhat shocked.

"Don't get me wrong, she's pretty smart when it comes to ninja things, but in everything else…" he finished off noncommittally. "She's always going on about Sasuke Uchiha and is totally oblivious to the fact that he hasn't shown any interest in any of the girls around here, just like every other stupid female in the village. She can act really dumb sometimes, a regular blonde, er…no offense." he said, looking warily at Temari's sandy collored tresses.

"Eh, That description never bugged me really because it never really applied to me."

"That's for sure, your definitely not dumb." Shikamaru mumbled to himself.

"What?" enquired Temari.

"Nothing, nothing." he hurriedly assured her quickly.

They walked along for awhile, looking everywhere but at each other if they could help it, though they both stole a glance or two from time to time.

"Hey Temari, do you mind if I showed you something?" he asked nervousness nearly making his voice tremble. Completely out of character.

"No" was the simple reply.

"Okay, well follow me."

After ten minutes of practically running, the two were rewarded for their efforts. They made their way up a large hill that was shaded by several trees with many lofty branches, that were now swaying gently in the breeze.

Shikamaru paused, now that they were here he felt somewhat silly showing this place to Temari, but there was no going back now.

"Wow." said Temari simply, looking at the wonderful view from on top of the hill. From here she could see most of Konoha, and off in the far distance, the four heads of past Hokages carved forever into the side of the mountain. "What is this place?" she required.

Placing one hand behind his head, Shikamaru explained. "Well, this is where I do my cloud-gazing."

Temari was already laying down, turning her face upwards, at the cerulean sky. Shikamaru followed suit.

"So, do look for certain shapes in the cloud, or do you just look at them?" she asked, truly curious, which caught Shikamaru completely off guard. No one usually showed much interest for his hobby.

"Mainly just look at them." he told her.

They laid there in silence for awhile, but it wasn't long before they struck conversation again, an easy one, one without any awkward pauses or cliché topics, like the weather. If you didn't know any better, you might think it was a conversation between old friends.

And that in itself was making Shikamaru uneasy. He never ever had invited anyone to cloud-gaze with him, and the fact that he invited this foreigner that he hardly knew made him ill at ease. On top of that, normally when he cloud-gazed he let the silence wash over him, and just listened to the calming noise of nothingness. But now, he was a part of a conversation that disrupted that silence, and he didn't even mind. He even contributed to this conversation more than any other conversation he had been apart of before, probably more than all of them combined.

Hours passed when it only seemed like moments. They eventually came to the conclusion that they should head home before anyone grew suspicious. They made their way slowly, while still keeping up with their discussion.

They finally made it to the Inn, to see Kankuro, sitting outside, apparently waiting for them.

"There you guys are, I've been waiting for like two hours already!"

"Sorry Kankuro." apologized Temari, but offered no explanation as to where the two had been to her brother.

One of the Inn's maids declared that dinner was to be served in ten minutes, and Temari decided that she needed to go "freshen up". Kankuro followed her up the stairs, still wanting some answers, leaving Shikamaru down at the bottom of the stairs.

"Sooooo…Where exactly were you two?" asked Kankuro as soon as the entered Temari's room and he had closed the door.

Temari picked up a hairbrush, sat down in front of the vanity set that was a part of her room's furniture, undid her ponytails and began to brush out her hair. "Shikamaru was showing me around." she offered as an explanation.

"So wait, you two were alone for more than two minutes, and you didn't claw each others eyes out?"asked Kankuro.

"Yes."

Kankuro's face split as he smiled a smile that was discernibly evil-looking

_"_You like him." he said in an annoying sing-songy voice.

Temari blanched. "I-I do not." she spluttered indignantly.

"Face it Temari, you do. Trust me, I'm an expert when it comes to recognizing when a person wants another person."

"Then why do you keep hitting on girls who repeatedly tell you that they're not interested?" she snapped out.

"Those girls _do _want me, they just don't realize it."

Temari snorted her disbelief. She then redid her ponytails, and then proceeded to tweeze the edges of her eyebrows, who seemed to grow at an alarming speeds contrary to her wishes.

"But those girls have nothing to do with this. Face the facts, maybe you don't like like him, but he's definitely growing on you. It's only a matter of time before…" his sentence fell, letting the message sink in.

Temari turned in her seat to face her naïve little brother. "Kankuro, for the last time. I. Don't. Like. Him."

"Sure you don't."

At that, she picked up her hairbrush and chucked it at Kankuro's head, who barely dodged, even with his catlike reflexes.

Temari returned to her tweezing, trying to forget all that her younger brother had said, but it kept sneaking back in.

Shaking her head one last time, in a vain attempt to dislodge the outlandish ideas planted by Kankuro, Temari got up and began to walk down the stairs to the awaiting dinner.

"So, you have absolutely nothing to report?' asked Tsunade for the third time that week.

Shikamaru's mind wondered to that afternoon spent with Temari, which his mind was doing more and ore frequently lately. They had talked about nothing in particular. Everything from home life to childhood memories, but nothing suspicious.

"No."

"Alright then Nara, you can go home."

Shikamaru moved automatically and found himself outside soon enough, where he made an involuntary groan. _"This mission is starting to get much to complicated."_ he thought, thinking back to earlier that afternoon.

Temari and Shikamaru had been laying there, cloud gazing, Temari telling him a funny anecdote about her childhood, when he suddenly felt compelled to tell her about his real mission, complete with the spying part. He wasn't sure why this idea hit him there, it might have been that he was simply so comfortable in his familiar cloud-gazing spot, or maybe it was because he was starting to trust Temari, against all odds. While they were laying there, just revealing certain facts about themselves to the other person, he just began to see Temari as an old friend, one who would understand the mission. But he caught himself before he slipped up. He had to remind himself that Temari wasn't an old friend who would understand being spied on. She was like a black-widow. Pretty to look at from a distance, but dangerous if you got to close.

But still…the time they spent in the afternoon was actually kind of…nice. Temari was so different from the other girls that he knew. She was headstrong, smart, a good ninja, loyal, pretty… and she wouldn't be caught dead letting a meaningless schoolyard crush control her life, unlike _certain_ ninjas (i.e. about all of the females his age.)

_"Get a hold of yourself Shikamaru, don't get tangled up in all this mess. They leave in two days, just try to survive till then."_

For the third time that week, Shikamaru quietly made his way back into the Inn, and for the third time that week, his actions were seen by a certain sleepless individual.

* * *

Please review!

Jambo!

Okay, so it's like, chapter three…the chapter of the totally OOC Shikamaru…which I hate…but I don't know how to fix it, I sorta need it like this…but I have a hard time believing Shikamaru would be this self-conscience…


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing

* * *

**Chapter Four**

The second to last day of the Sand villagers journey came and went. Eventually day turned to night as the few restaurants and bars set up shop. Clubs opened their doors to rooms with pulsating light-up floors and booming music.

It was outside of one of these establishments that Temari, Kankuro, Shikamaru and Gaara found themselves. Kankuro finally got his wish of visiting the only fun place established for teenagers.

They walked in and snagged one of the tables that were set up around the perimeter of the main room, which also housed the dance floor.

They all ordered some drinks, and then just sat there awhile, taking in their surroundings.

For a Thursday night, the club was doing fairly good business. There had to be at least twenty other teens mulling around on the dance floor, doing what they expected to be the latest craze in dance moves, but resembled a peg-legged duck thrashing about more than anything.

Shikamaru didn't recognize anyone, which considering how small Konoha was to begin with was surprising in itself.

The music changed as an upbeat fast-paced music, replacing a slower one. This song had an infectious beat, and Shikamaru found himself tapping the beat out with his foot.

"Hey, I got an idea." chirped Kankuro suddenly. "Now, this might seem sort of out there," he began, sarcasm practically dribbling off of his tongue, "But how's about we go dance on the dance floor."

Temari, who was sitting across from him gave him a silent look that could kill, but he just waved it off.

"Come on, this is a dance club. Are we just going to sit here and watch other people dance, poorly I might add." he said as an afterthought, while watching one girl fail in her attempt to pull off what most likely have been a very cool dance move, but ended up looking just ridiculous and embarrassing. "Or are we going to have some fun and dance?"

Before anyone could protest, Kankuro stood up real quick and pulled Temari along with him by one the sleeves of her low-cut shirt. He turned though to face the other two. "Well?" he asked.

Gaara gave no reply which was instantly interpreted as "No." that no one argued with. Shikamaru was a different case though.

"I can't dan-" but he wasn't allowed to finish his sentence as Kankuro snatched him up as well by the sleeve of his shirt.

Practically dragging the two unwilling victims, Kankuro made his way towards the middle of the floor. The same song was still playing, and they found themselves swaying to the rhythm, though in Shikamaru and Temari's case it was somewhat hesitantly.

But soon they simply let the music wash over them and they just started to dance to it with no rhyme or reason other than to have fun with it and to hell with anyone who thought that what they were doing was embarrassing.

Sure enough, the song changed, the new one was much slower, meant to be a romantic couple song. Temari and Shikamaru were shaken out of there reveries by the change in tempo to see that they were only ones on the floor that was not coupled up and that wasn't dancing slowly to the music. Kankuro was nowhere to be seen.

"Uh, well, I guess we should sit down now." said Temari shakily after an awkward pause.

Shikamaru agreed, but he suddenly found himself pulling Temari closer to him, and began to move around in a smooth small circle like all of the other couples.

He placed his hands around the small of her back as he felt her hesitantly place her hands on his shoulders, then, after a pause, she nudged her chin onto his shoulder as well and leaned into his body's frame. They were so close that they could feel the warmth of each other's breath on their cheeks, and hear the gentle beat of each other's heartbeat, which was slowly starting to elevate, though in sync. _Bum-bump, Bum-bump, Bum-bump._

After the song had ended, they pulled apart slightly, but still held on to each other. Their eyes met and they both carried the same message. Time slowed as the two's faces slowly, oh so painfully slow, came closer. Just as two pairs of lips were about to meet, their senses flooded back, and the two realized what they were about to do. They let go of each other quickly and stood apart from each other, blood rushing to their cheeks, coloring them scarlet at their embarrassment.

"Uh…"

"Yeah."

They stood in silence a bit longer before they both simultaneously turned and went off in separate directions.

_"Was I about to do what I think I was about to do?"_ thought Shikamaru to himself.

_"I can't believe I nearly ki- no, no, I didn't, there's no way, because as I have repeatedly had to tell Kankuro, I. Don't. Like. Him. Speaking of Kankuro, he's dead meat." _Temari went off searching for her oldest brother and prepared to commit murder.

Back before the whole mess of the slow dance had even began, Kankuro had made his way back to the table where Gaara was still sitting at, leaving Shikamaru and Temari to fend for themselves.

"Watch and learn little brother, you are looking at a matchmaking genius." he told Gaara.

"And who exactly are you using your "matchmaking genius" on?" asked Gaara sarcastically, not particularly caring how Kankuro answered, or if he answered at all. He was just practicing the art of conversation, which is apparently a skill required by the Kazekage.

"Temari and Shikamaru." came the response.

"Shikamaru's that guy that's been following us around all week, right?" asked Gaara, trying to conjure a face to the name.

"Yeah, he's our guide, although I guess I shouldn't have expected you to remember him, you've been to busy with your Kage business." said Kankuro.

"Isn't he also the guy who's been sneaking out every night?" asked Gaara, which came as a surprise to Kankuro.

"Wha- he's been sneaking out every night?"

"Yeah, and it looks like he goes to the Hokage's office, but I'm not entirely sure."

"What would he be doing at the Hokage's office?"

"Obviously something top secret, or he wouldn't be waiting until everyone was asleep to sneak out." supplied Gaara as an answer.

"Every night…what could he be up to?"

Kankuro came to a decision, he'd confront Shikamaru about his late night walks.

Right then was when Temari showed up, face red from embarrassment and anger.

"What the hell was that about Kankuro!" she said, screaming over the music, but not particularly caring who overheard. "What were you thinking leaving me there alone wi-"

"We've got bigger problems than that, apparently Shikamaru's been sneaking out every night and meeting someone." interrupted Kankuro.

"Meeting someone…" she said in a small horrified voice, more to herself than anyone else.

"Yeah, and I think we need to get to the bottom of it, Gaara, come on." Kankuro said, while turning to his younger brother, before heading off to find the two-faced rat, Shikamaru.

_"Crap, crap, CRAP!!! This is the exact opposite of __not__ getting tangled up in this mess. What was I thinking, I nearly…I nearly…I can't believe I almost did what I almost did…"_

Shikamaru made his way to the illuminated bar and ordered an ice tea, and sat down, to wade through his complicated and unidentifiable emotions.

It wasn't long before he got a tap on the shoulder, and turning, he saw that it was Kankuro.

"We need to talk." he said in a serious tone befitting a funeral.

"_Crap, Temari told him about what almost happened, and now he's going to beat me up to 'protect his sister's honor' or something.."_

He followed Kankuro, who was soon joined by Gaara and Temari, with his head hanging. He glanced up briefly to see Temari looking at him with a look of such disappointment."

_"Shit, is she that upset about the kiss-thing?"_

_"Shit, shit, SHIT!!! I should have known he'd be seeing someone. How could I have been so stupid?!?!?! I've seen him with his shirt off!!! I know how he looks, and I surely can't be the only girl who's noticed. I bet he's seeing that stupid dumb Ino-chick!!! sigh the worst part is that I'm letting this effect me so deeply. This is not what was suppose to happen. I was suppose to come Konoha and beat up the little punk, get my revenge…I wasn't suppose to fall in love with him."_ there was no denying her feelings now… not after what almost happened on the dance floor. She nearly jumped him for heaven's sake! She would have to if it she hadn't come to her senses, but she couldn't deny anything now. This wasn't some little crush. Temari understood her feelings, she knew the difference between lust and love.

"_But stupid little Shikamaru, completely messed me up!"_

Soon they had reached the Inn, and they climbed up the stairs, slowly, solemnly, like a funeral procession.

The group of four reached Kankuro and Shikamaru's shared room and stepped inside. Kankuro pointed to Shikamaru's bed, gesturing to him to sit down. Shikamaru could see the anger in his eyes. Temari went to go sit on Kankuro's bed, listless, and Gaara stood in the corner farthest away from Shikamaru's bed.

"Alright, explain yourself." demanded Kankuro.

"Wha-"

"You know exactly what I mean, Gaara's been saying that you've been sneaking out at night and going towards the Hokage's office."

_"The Hokage's office? I thought he was meeting a girl, unless… unless he's been meeting Tsunade… EWWW!!! That's just gross!!! She's like, three times his age." _thought Temari.

_"Okay, so he's not going to beat me up to defend his sister's honor," _concluded Shikamaru, _"But it's just as bad because they know about my meeting with Tsunade."_

'It's not- I can explain." he started, rather lamely.

"Then do." hissed Kankuro.

_"And how do I explain this? Do I just tell them that I've been spying on them? Yeah right…"_

"Well…Uh, you were right, I have been meeting the Hokage."

_"EWWWW!"_ thought Temari.

"But it wasn't my fault, I was just taking orders, and I know that that is the stupidest excuse, but believe me, I never wanted this mission, especially not after I found out I had to watch you…"

Silence filled the room.

_"SHIT!!! I was not suppose to say that!!! How the hell did that come out?!?!?!"_

But it was much too late to call for a retraction. Due to his nervousness, Shikamaru ended up blowing his big secret, and there was no way to make the other three occupants of the room forget it.

"What do you mean watch us? Have you been spying on us?" asked Kankuro, voice getting dangerously close to sounding murderous.

All Shikamaru could do was nod numbly.

Relief flooded through Temari. "_He wasn't seeing anyone, well, not like that." _But this relief was short-lived as red hot anger overtook Temari's body.

"Who put you up to it?" demanded Temari, getting up from the bed.

Shikamaru turned his head to face her, "It wasn't Tsunade-sama, she was just following orders from the feudal lords. They're the ones who said we needed to keep an eye on you, despite the fact that you signed that treaty. And I was the sucker who was suckered into it." he added, preparing for the eruption that was sure to come.

He was not disappointed.

"You…you…YOU SNOT-NOSED, LYING, TREACHEROUS, TWO-FACED, LITTLE SNAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Temari yelled, not caring who heard "How dare you…you. I can not believe this. This whole time you've been spying on us!?!?!" said Temari.

Shikamaru didn't reply, he couldn't. he lowered his head. Everything she had said was 100 true, even the part about him being a snake. He never felt so low in his life.

He raised his head when a slamming noise reached his ears. Temari had left, leaving Shikamaru in a room with one very angry shinobi, and a Kazekage who, although appeared aloof, would probably join in if Kankuro decided to start beating Shikamaru up.

Trying to intercept this inevitable future, Shikamaru got up and left the room, but he had no idea where to go. There was no way he could sleep in the same room as Kankuro. Based on that last look he gave him, it was safe to assume that Kankuro would try to kill him in his sleep. He supposed he could return to his home, but…

But he couldn't feel compelled to take this course of action, although it was by far the most logical. He couldn't bring himself to do it though because of Temari. Although her anger had been much apparent, Shikamaru had heard another emotion under all that. Disappointment. Complete and utter disappointment. And he was the cause of it.

He felt responsible for the state Temari was in, but he wasn't sure what he could do. He sincerely doubted that her seeing him right now would solve anything, but he didn't want to leave her all alone either. He compromised by seating himself just outside of her room. He rested his head against the wall and prayed. _"Please, please let her forgive me, please let this be a nightmare that I'll just wake up from it and she'll be there, still on friendly terms with me." _these thought circled his mind as he fell deeper and deeper into sleep.

It was well past midnight, and Tsunade was still waiting for Shikamaru. She peeked out her window for the thousandth time, hoping to spot him walking up the street, but to no avail.

_"Where is he?" _she thought to herself. _"Something must have happened, something bad."_ she sat down behind her desk, various scenarios entering her mind, each more worse than the last one.

_"He'd better be okay, because by the time I get my hands on him he won't be."_

And with that, Tsunade slowly drifted off to sleep, her head resting on her desk.

* * *

Please review!

Shalom!

Um yeah, this is both one of my favorite chapters as well as one of my least. It's my favorite because of what happens, what with the big secret being let out and stuff.

It's my least favorite because of the way I handled it…especially with Temari talking to herself when she's leaving the club… about the falling in love thing…

Either it seems to quick for me, or it just seems poorly written… because you know how authors draw on their own experiences? Yeah well…imagination can only get you so far and I really have no idea how the falling in love thing works…

But anyway… hope you enjoyed it

Gomen Nasai for the cursing… but its all Class Three curse words anyway….


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing

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**Chapter Five**

Temari woke up the next morning, numb and dry of all emotions. It only took her a few minutes to remember why that was, and when she did, it hit her like a ton of bricks. Her stomach suddenly felt queasy as she made her way to the bathroom.

Eventually she emerged from her room to bump into something hard.

She looked down to see that it was Shikamaru. He was sleeping on is side, head right in front of her door.

_"Why the heck is he here? I suppose he might have been nervous to sleep in the same room as Kankuro, but why didn't he just go home?"_

Suddenly Shikamaru gave a small sleepy sigh, and Temari paused.

_"I shouldn't do this, not after what that snake did to us, but still…" _and before she could talk herself out of it, Temari turned and re-entered her room. She quickly snatched a pillow and a blanket from her bed, yanking them off.

She returned to the sleeping Shikamaru, and gently placed he pillow under his head, and wrapped the blanket around him. _"I shouldn't have done that, he definitely doesn't deserve it. But…" _Temari's mind wandered to several times where she had to sleep in that exact same position on a hard surface, and she knew that she would have appreciated a pillow or a blanket.

Having done her good deed for the day, Temari slipped herself an apple and quietly left the inn to travel down the many streets in Konoha, destination unknown.

Shikamaru woke to something warm and moist prodding his forehead. He opened his eyes to a big pink blur, as his eyes were initially cross-eyed from trying to look at something so close. They eventually focused to find a small pig, with a piece of string wrapped around it's neck, holding a scroll.

Groaning, Shikamaru sat up and rubbed his eyes. That was when he finally took notice of the pillow and the blanket. He picked up the pillow.

_"Did one of the maids leave this?"_

He placed his head on the pillow. It carried a familiar scent, not like the soap the Inn used, more like…

_"Temari." _he sniffed it again, taking in the scent. It definitely smelled like the perfume Temari used.

_"But why would she leave these here?"_

He was interrupted by the persistent grunting of the pig in front of him.

"Okay Ton-ton." he said, reaching over to untie the string holding the scroll.

_"This can't be good." _he looked at the scroll like it was a bomb about to go off. It had to be from Tsunade, as if the pig wasn't a clue enough.

Unrolling it, Shikamaru began to read the scroll.

_Shikamaru, _

_Your presence is requested by the Lady Hokage. It is imperative that you come as quickly as possible, as the Lady Hokage has many things to discuss with you._

Shikamaru blinked a few times. That wasn't as bad as he thought, he had been expecting a lot of yelling, cursing and death threats. He realized Shizune must have written this message, otherwise he would have found all of those other things.

_"I suppose I should go to the Hokage's office."_ but all he really wanted to do was go find Temari, to somehow apologize for what he did.

He got up, and headed off towards the Hokage, possibly to face his death. Unfortunately Temari would have to wait, he had a duty towards his village.

_"Let's see if I can't get through this as soon as possible and try and find Temari."_

"WHERE IS THAT SLACKING, LAZY, INCONSIDERATE, LACK-A-DAISY SHIKAMRU!!!!" yelled Tsunade from her office.

"As you can see, Tsunade-sama is upset with your not showing up to report last night, so my suggestion to you is to bow your head and agree with every thing she says." said Shizune, offering some advice.

Shikamaru slowly entered Tsunade's office, looking around for any flying kunai aimed at his head. Fortunately there were none; for now.

"So, there's the unpunctual little sap." said Tsunade, referring to Shikamaru. "You better have a good excuse for last night. Do you know what I had to suffer because of you? I went to sleep at my desk and now I have the worst crick in my neck!"

Shikamaru winced, but didn't offer an excuse, _"Tsunade is not going to like this."_

"Well?" she said, once Shikamaru had sat down, "What's your excuse?"

Shikamaru mumbled something that was inaudible to Tsunade.

"What did you say?"

"I said they found out!" was the snappish reply.

"They found out about…about, how did they find out?"

"Apparently Gaara has noticed me sneaking out of the Inn. I forgot that he doesn't sleep."

"So they found out," repeated Tsunade, "well this is just great…what are we suppose to do now."

Shikamaru figured that it was a rhetoric question and didn't reply.

Tsunade heaved a great sigh, "Well, I suppose it's not your fault, I forgot about Gaara's inability to sleep too, and it was a rather important mission, one that I probably should have entrusted to a Jonin." she paused, "I don't suppose you found out anything?"

"For the fourth time this week, I don't think the Sand shinobi are up to anything, nor did I find anything to the contrary."

Silence filled the room as Tsunade sat, contemplating their next move.

"Okay Shikamaru, your dismissed, for the last time. This mission is over."

Shikamaru looked at Tsunade's face, which confirmed all that she just said. He got up slowly, and left the office reverently. But as soon as he had closed Tsunade's door behind him, he sped off to try to find Temari.

_"Where is she?"_ Shikamaru thought while running up and down street after street trying to find Temari.

_"She wasn't at the Inn, not at any of the clothing shops, none of the restaurants. She's not anywhere!"_

""Shikamaru!!!" called a familiar voice. He turned, hoping against hopes, but he was greeted by Ino, not the person he wanted to see.

She came sliding up to him in what he supposed she thought was a sexy stride. _"What a drag." _he didn't need this, he had to find Temari before they had to leave for

Suna.

"What Ino?" he snapped out, hoping she would get the hint.

She didn't, his whole team didn't understand subtlety apparently.

"Well, I was just thinking, I mean we've been friends for a long time, and…well, I'm sure you like me, and of course I don't blame you. And it doesn't look like Sasuke's going to come to senses anytime soon and choose me over that stupid Sakura, so I was wondering if there was something you wanted to ask me?" she said in a breathy falsetto.

"Um, no." _"Plain enough for you to understand?"_

Apparently not.

"Are you sure?' she said, giving Shikamaru a wink that sent shudders down his spine, the bad kind.

"Yeah I'm sure, now if you don't mind, I have to go find Temari!" he said, anger rising. He needed to find Temari before it was too late. He sped off down the path he was originally going down before Ino had interrupted him, moving possibly the fastest he had ever moved in his life.

Ino stood there in flabbergasted silence before shouting after Shikamaru, "Who the heck is Temari?"

_"I've looked everywhere! Where is she!!"_

He was getting desperate, it was only a matter of time before Temari and them had to leave, and he had to apologize to her before then, just had to.

He had only one last spot left, and figured he might as well check it out. He raced out of town, one more place to check.

Temari was lying down on the comfortable grass, watching the clouds overhead drift by. She wasn't sure why she had came here, but it held some pleasant memories, and she felt she should come here one last time before she left.

Behind came the sound of labored breath. She tilted her head back to see a panting Shikamaru, cheeks red from exertion.

After a pause to let him catch his breath he began, "There you are, I been lo-"

"Stow it, I know what you've come to do, and I don't care. You can say your sorry till your blue in the face, but it won't make an inch of difference." she told him, rising to her feet.

"Listen Temari, I truly am sorry. I never wanted-"

"I don't care what you say, or how you feel. You've done something unforgivable, even if you were just following orders, and I'm not about give you a pat on the head and say it's okay." she said, make her way closer to Shikamaru, each step enunciating her words.

'Uuugh," Shikamaru groaned, "I know what I did was horrible, but you at least listen to what I have to say?"

"Why should I?" demanded Temari, "It's not like you deserve the benefit of the doubt or anything!"

"But you don't have to react so melodramatically. Typical woman, blows everything out of proportion!" They were now practically on top of each other, yelling into each other's faces.

"Oh…oooh. I can not believe the nerve you have. After what you did, Your saying that I'm blowing things out of proportion!" yelled Temari, completely affronted.

"What about when you first got here! All you did was glare at me because of one little fight six months ago!!!'

"So I don't like to lose…" she began, only to be interrupted again.

"Don't like to lose! You were being one of the biggest sore losers I've ever seen. And all that first day, whenever I tried to do or say _anything_ you would give me some snippy snide remark! You want to talk about overreactions. You have a comeback for just about anything, don't you?"

"Probably." was the short reply.

"Well, what about this?" and then he grabbed her by her arms, which were crossed, and crashed his lips to hers.

She stood there, dumbfounded. _"How did we get from yelling to kissing?"_ Shikamaru's lips were hard on hers, almost bruising them. But as time passed, he alleviated some of the pressure, and soon the kiss became gentle, loving almost as he caressed her lips with his.

Then, just as she was about to place her arms around his neck and kiss him back, he stepped way, leaving her hanging.

"I'm sorry." he apologized, truly sounding sorry. He turned away from her and covered his face with a hand. "I-I don't know where that came from, I-I was just going to try to a-apologize and I, that wasn't, I mean." his voice was shaking. "I'm sorry, for everything this week-especially the spying- I just, I-"

But he was cut off by a tap on the shoulder, and he turned, expecting to see a very angry sand-dweller.

"You asked if I have a comeback for everything, and I do, this." she said quickly, while slamming her own lips to his, continuing what they had been doing only moments before, but this time, no one pulled away for awhile.

**Epilogue**

_Dear Shikamaru,_

_Hmmn, I'm not sure how to start this off, I've never had a pen pal. I can't really talk about anything new, because there is nothing new around here, and my day-to-day life is so boring you'd just end up falling asleep._

"Hey Temari!" called out Kankuro as he barged in to Temari's room, "Do you have any cut medication. I can't find any."

"Knock much?" asked Temari, covering the piece of paper that she was writing on. "Why didn't you just go to the medics?" she asked, referring to the two medical ninjas that were always on sight anywhere that Gaara was in Suna.

"It's just a tiny little cut, didn't want to bug them."

"I think I might have one in one of the drawers." she said, pointing to the bathroom connected to her room.

Kankuro disappeared, leaving Temari in silence for awhile, trying to think of how to continue her letter.

So deep was her concentration that she didn't hear it when Kankuro came back from the bathroom, a plastic tube in hand.

"Who are you writing to?" he asked, right next to her ear. Compared to the silence that filled the room before, his voice sounded like the stampeding of a thousand rhinos.

"No one." she said quickly, trying to cover up the paper, but it didn't help.

"You writing to Shikamaru again? I guess you guys were serious." Kankuro said, without a hint of bitterness. After a long period of resentment, Kankuro and supposedly Gaara had gotten over the insult of being spied on by Shikamaru. "Of course, I'm not really surprised, I told you all along that you liked him."

"Hnnph." said Temari, grunting noncommittally.

"Of course, you have me to thank for that."

"Oh I do, do I?" she asked, voice laced with a dangerous tone that went unnoticed by the naïve Kankuro.

"Yep, if I didn't leave you guys alone on that dance floor, you would've never gotten together."

"That reminds me, I never thanked you for that." she said while picking up something heavy off her writing desk and chucked it at Kankuro's head.

"Hey, I thought you wanted to thank me!"

"For leaving me alone in a rather awkward position?" _"Even if it worked out well in the end." _she added to herself, with a little contented smile.

"Fine, fine, I know when I'm not welcome."

"Don't forget to put the medicine back when your done!" she called out to him.

"Oh, and by the way, you'll never guess what just happened." continued Kankuro, making his way out of the room.

"You talked to a girl who didn't try to kill herself after being in your company for over five minutes?" she asked, teasing him to get back for his teasing earlier.

"No, apparently Gaara has to go back to Konoha for some meeting, and we get to tag along."

"Are you serious?" asked Temari, getting excited

"Yep." he finished, then finally left the room.

Turning back to her letter, she eagerly began to scribble down the news.

_Guess what Kankuro just told me? Apparently were going to be making another trip to Konoha soon. I'm not sure when, but apparently Gaara has to go to some meeting, and we get to come along! See you when we get there._

_Temari_

She folded up her letter and got it ready to be mailed, but decided to wait until the next morning. It was already late, and most likely the post office was closed anyway.

Laying the letter back on her desk, Temari went off to get ready for bed. She eventually snuggled down into the covers of her queen-sized bed, and drifted off to a happy slumber, dreaming of clouds and kisses.

* * *

Please review!

FIN!!!

Yeah!!! It's over!!! So what'd you think? Is the ending okay…or the kiss? How about the kiss?

By the way… Ino-bashing… not like anyone should be offended… no one really likes Ino right?

On another note… isn't Lack-a-Daisy a cool word?


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